Bomber targets NATO base as Afghan election looms

KABUL (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck near the front gate of NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding nearly 100 in a brazen daylight attack less than a week before Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election.

Also Saturday, U.S. Marines pushed deeper into the strategic Helmand province town of Dahaneh for a fourth-straight day, meeting fierce Taliban resistance as surface-to-surface missiles and Harrier fighter jets pounded insurgent positions in the surrounding hills.

The blast, which occurred about 8:35 a.m. in Kabul’s heavily guarded diplomatic quarter, appeared aimed at frightening Afghans against participating in Thursday’s presidential election.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the explosion, which rattled windows across a wide area of the Afghan capital and sent a huge mushroom cloud of dense, black smoke rising into the blue sky.

It was the biggest insurgent attack in Kabul in six months and shook public confidence in the extensive network of checkpoints and armed guards that maintain security in the city.

The bomber managed to evade several rings of Afghan police and detonated his vehicle about 30 yards from the main entrance to the NATO base, where top U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal has his headquarters. It was unknown whether McChrystal was there at the time of the attack.

After the blast, bloodied and dazed Afghans wandered the street. They included children who congregate outside the NATO gate to sell gum to Westerners.

President Hamid Karzai blamed the attack on the “enemies of Afghanistan” who were “trying to create fear among the people as we get close to the election,” in which Karzai is favored to win a second, five-year term.

Karzai said in a statement that Afghans “are not afraid of any threats, and they will go to cast their votes.”

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility and said the target was the NATO headquarters and the U.S. Embassy about 150 yards down the street. A top Kabul police official blamed al- Qaida because of the size of the blast.

Also Saturday, a British soldier wounded in an explosion in Afghanistan died, the defense ministry said, bringing the country’s military death toll there to 200.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the grim milestone “deeply tragic news.” It is sure to raise more questions about Britain’s increasingly perilous mission in Afghanistan.

The soldier had been wounded in a blast while on vehicle patrol Thursday in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Three other British troops were killed by roadside bombs in a separate incident in Afghanistan the same day.

Britain has about 9,000 troops in Afghanistan, most based in Helmand, a center of Taliban insurgents.